My rangers shoulda stayed down in the middle of the pack, i love them but when you score 10 runs everyother day and still lose, man that sucks. Like i said if clemens doesn't retire he needs to drive his ass to arlington.

I am becoming increasingly disappointed with ESPN. It seems all they are interested in is selling razors and DVD's. How can you put the Phillies below the Dodgers and the Twinkies? No offense to either team but come on!! Garbage that I wont pay attention to. Braves, Bah.

GoBirds, hump9n, do you have any sort of argument to back those claims up? Tell us why the Phillies and Braves should be ranked higher. Let's not let this thread turn into one of the old-school TSN NHL power rankings mailbags: "DEAR MR CULEN WHY ARE THE LEAFS RANKED SO LOW THEY HAVE BEATEN ATLANTA AND FLORIDA AND HOW CAN YOU NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT INTANGIBLES LIKE HEART AND GRIT AND ATTENDANCE AND MATS SUNDIN HAS A KICK-ASS SOUP COMMERCIAL"

Sigh. Even with all the offseason action the Jays are still thought to be third in the AL East. Though I guess it is too soon to conclude that their performance will be better than the .500 ball they've been drifting around for years.

And what are Frank Thomas and Milton Bradley really going to bring to Oakland except for a whole lot of bitching and moaning, and a permanent revolving spot on the DL? Bradley's never played more than 141 games, but if he's healthy (and relatively sane), he could easily prove me wrong. Thomas, on the other hand, I think not.

Bradley and Thomas are just pieces of the puzzle to team that has been contending over the last 5 years .The ranking for the A's is perfect , deeep pitching rotation, top 5 short stop and top 3 closer in Houston Street.

I gotta agree with TBH. Thomas and Bradley are highly unstable pieces of the puzzle. The A's that were contending five years ago are very different from the 2006 A's—and I think the team five years ago was a more realistic contender.

I noticed that, though I don't really get it. With damon breaking down and coco being 26 I'm not sure center field will be any worse. There's that, and then in the SI piece, Boston has pitching "ifs" and thus, third place. They've got... what...7 starters and a very decent BP. Never a fan of predicting the outcome when people haven't even reported for ST yet.

I'm definately not satisfied with the Cub's off-season moves but adding Juan Pierre to jump start the offense seems pretty sweet to me. The bigger issues with this team is the return of Woods and Prior to top level form. Ranked 17th seems about right until proven otherwise.....

The fact that the Royals aren't last (or even left off the list for failing to be a major league franchise) is a sign that something is definitely wrong. Nevertheless, spring training is a time for hope, and every team has a chance of winning. The fans of those teams think that "if everything breaks right", they'll be a contender. Except for the Royals.

There was a good chunk of time last year where he played (because of contract year? because he was hoping for WS repeat?) hurt and pretty banged up. From observation, it seems he had a legitimate case for and should have gone on a short DL stint for his shoulder.

GoBirds, every single one of the players you name, save one, played for the underwhelming Phillies last year. And that one exception is coming off a fairly unnoticeable .270/.329/.407 year (albeit with a World Series win, which adds some glitter). Power rankings are based on past performance—what else are you going to use? So the veterans that the Dodgers picked up (Garciaparra, Furcal, hell, even Alomar Jr) will carry more weight than any unproven young guns who might improve the Philadelphia franchise. Basically, I'm asking you to point out exactly how the Phillies have addressed their weaknesses which plagued their season last year. Just running down their roster smacks of pure homerism and isn't really of any value to anyone here. Tell us why your team is good. Give us a good argument.

Hope Millwood is the "Ace" Texas has been lookin for. Ha, I remember when we thought Millwood could be the ace the Phils were looking for. I imagine him just getting fatter and slower during his 5 years in Texas, like the Quail That Got Away.

GoBirds, DrJohnEvans asked you "to point out exactly how the Phillies have addressed their weaknesses which plagued their season last year." It's a good question. Maybe they should play well together, but last year they didn't play well enough, and this year it don't look much different. So again, please explain why you think the Phillies should be ranked higher than middle of the pack.

Well, the White Sox are ranked first, and I am certainly not used to that. Let's just hope there isn't a ESPN curse. As far as ESPN: when they dropped their text-only text-reader friendly version without warning and with no explanation...they made my "why bother?" list. (Not to derail, but if anyone knows of a good game stats RSS feed or text only page I'd appreciate it.)

i like the dodgers as a tentative 2nd in the NL west, depending on how dominating bonds is this year. if he and moises don't stay healthy, i think it's the dodgers' division to lose. they've got the best pitching and the best bullpen in the division. they've got health questions in the lineup too, though, with drew, nomar, and lofton. i'm just glad this year won't be a complete embarassment and am pleased they've kept all the jems in one of the best farm systems intact. i can be patient knowing that. other notes: - the braves seem high at 9, imo, but they've always defied expectations, so i'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. i use the same argument on the A's, but then again, i'm a closet A's fan too. who doesn't like green + yellow? :D - i would flip flop the bosox and jays, just in terms of who's added more of what they needed in the offseason. as stated in past threads, i somehow missed my hit off the coco crisp kool aid box. - i agree the phillies should be higher than the cubs (!), astros, and maybe disappointing twins, just in terms of what those teams lost/didn't add in the offseason. not the blue crew, though ;) - too much respect to the padres imo. they'll struggle to be at .500.

Maybe its because im an avid Yanks fan... but how can you route against them Yanks as the favorite to win it all? They might have the best hitting team ever, with a good starting 5, and a really good bullpen. Sounds like the 2006 champs to me.

Thanks, jersey girl. I didn't know that. Is there any reason to suspect the shoulder is not mendable? He had a pretty good year for an injured player. If healthy, he could be dynamite this year. I couldn't speak to any mending on the shoulder. I presume he went through a physical, and they didn't find anything alarming. He plays tough, which is great because he doesn't think twice about slamming into a metal fence/pole, but has it's downsides as well obviously. Who knows how he'll do in NYY. It's a bit more structured than what he enjoyed in Boston, but you don't know until you know. You, uh, know? :)

Maybe its because im an avid Yanks fan... but how can you route against them Yanks as the favorite to win it all? They might have the best hitting team ever, with a good starting 5, and a really good bullpen. Sounds like the 2006 champs to me. Because the season hasn't started yet, Pavano is hurt, no one has returned unscathed from the WBC yet... There are a lot of variables. Last year's NYY team was great on paper too. As were a lot of teams. You never know until you're in it. Until then, its a lot of speculatory BS.

I don't neccesarily think they(Phillies) should be higher than the middle, just higher than a few of the teams mentioned before them. With such a weak free agent pool this year and the Phil's pencheant for over-spending on "good" big name players and not spending enough on guys they should, I'm kind of glad they didn't do much this off-season. That said, I do wish they would have done more to keep Wagner, that was quite a hit. His mind was made up. I never take offense after someone calls out a post and hope that no one takes any to me.

I'm still trying to recover from the fact that Damon went to the hated Yanks. Of course this is coming from an avid red sox fan but so what. I think Coco should beable to cover ole' Johnny boys spot but...he'll be missed.

Maybe its because im an avid Yanks fan... but how can you route against them Yanks as the favorite to win it all?...with a good starting 5 The best I can figure, their 5 starting pitchers are: Randy Johnson (old, tired and not getting better, but could surprise with a sub4.00 ERA again) Mike Mussina (a horse, but won't be throwing a sub 4.00 ERA either) Chien-Ming Wang (very similar to Gustavo Chacin, in that a good rookie season might smoke and mirrors (look at that K/BB & K/9IP ratios)) Carl Pavano (coming off a poor injury season, so who knows) Shawn Chacon (more smoke and mirrors, as K/BB and K/9IP suggest) Aaron Small, Jaret Wright, Ron Villone (extras, but all wild card due to previous history, injury or age) This isn't what I'd call a "good" starting 5.

Now that spring training has officially started, where does your favorite team rank and do you agree with their placement? Well I don't even have to read the link to be able to say that my beloved Tigers are probably close to the bottom but ahead of the Royals. Not much of a suprise there. Do I agree with the placement? Unfortunatley yes.

I noticed that, though I don't really get it. With damon breaking down and coco being 26 I'm not sure center field will be any worse. posted by justgary at 9:33 AM CST on February 17 Please back up the damon breaking down comment. posted by drevl That's pretty much common knowledge, so I didn't feel the need to back it up. Damon at the end of the season was not the damon that started out. As jerseygirl said, he plays hurt, and he's not a kid any more. The yankees knew this and are taking a chance. I've read several yankee followers who expect 2 good years out of damon before he hits the skids. Of course, he may have 4 great years in new york, who knows. Only time will tell.

I know that I am being a 'Homer" here, but I think the Twins were ranked alot lower than they should be. They lost some more players and yes they have a tight budget. The cupboard in not bare and there is a lot of balance in a line-up that boasts one of the best pitching staffs in the league! The Twin's pitching staff is much more than Santana and Nathon. The AL Central will be the toughest division in the league this year. The Red Sox and the Yankees should be shoooting for winning their division as there will be two playoff teamrs from the AL Central. The Sox, last year, won a ton of one run games. The Twins lost over 50 one-run games. They havent fallen as much as the national "exspurts" say they have

While i still think next year is their year, i think the brewers are getting no respect. Both SI and Sports nation has predicted them to finish 4th in the NL central. The brewers have made a lot of key additions like trading lyle overbay to free up space for Prince Fielder, and also getting Corey Koski from the blue jays. The rest of the "top" teams have realy haven't done much this offseason. The Cardinals lost a lot of players and did not replace them with players of the same quality. Although I still agree that they have a good team and should be favorite for the division title. The Astros really haven't done anything this offseason except try to force Jeff Bagwell to retire. If Clemens doesnt come back then they are not the same team that went to the World Series last year. I also dont think the Cubs are going to be that much better. Yes the addition of Juan Pierre is good for their offense, I still think that pitching is what is going to hurt them as Wood and Prioir can't seem to stay healthy the last couple of year which gives me no reason to think they will stay healthy this year. I believe Brewers have a above average rotation with Sheets, Davis, Capuano, Ohka, and who ever they decide on for the 5th guy. While their lineup will be fielded with young guys... they all showed tremendous potential last year and now with the addition of Koski the Brewers have one of the best utility men coming of the bench in Bill Hall. I think alot of people will be surprised with the Brewers this year as I see them contending for the wild card (outside shot of winning the wild card) and watch out in 2007 they could win the whole division